http://www.hyphen.gr The latest news from HYPHEN S.A. http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=341202 Newsletter, issue 203 http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=341202 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:56:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=341201 newsletter, issue 202 http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=341201 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:55:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=341200 Newsletter, issue 201 http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=341200 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:53:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=340268 weekly newsletter, issue 200 http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=340268 Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:02:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=340037 weekly newsletter, issue 198 http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=340037 Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:35:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315891 hyphen News: Our second iPhone application is up! Hyphen News; search in your app store for Hyphen News and download for free... This application provides up-to-date, relevant news items in the fields of education, business and publishing. Features: - Universal application (supports iPhone/iPod/iPad). - Push Notification support. - Portrait Landscape view. - Open articles in browser. http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315891 Thu, 12 May 2011 14:16:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315893 hyphen new iPhone application: Can I hyphen? App-ing the stakes in excellence! Business-wise or not, in today's environment we face challenges while trying to complete our daily tasks. The human brain, the most powerful and complex tool, boosts our effort but also blocks us from elementary (but sometimes useful) actions. Sometimes things only seem to be impossible... The following challenge is straight forward: Try to connect the shapes of the same color using lines that do not cross each other and do not touch any other line. Note: The lines should be inside the circle, not outside the circle and not touching the circle. BONUS: hyphen ROIBiz (return on investment in business) and ROIEDU (return of investment in education) are comprehensive sets of indices comprising a true code of business and educational practice for small or medium-sized companies that want to expand and increase productivity rates in the current financial environment. http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315893 Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:23:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315885 Hyphen supports Theatre... As communication sponsor we're delighted to invite you to the rebelious 'Monroe's Flu' Few shows lined up 31/3 to 17/4 at the 'Micro Theatro', Thessaloniki. Click here for more information...   http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315885 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:08:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315907 Incentives for the hiring of 2,500 unemployed people From Epaggelmatiko Vima The Greek Manpower Employment Organisation has established a new programme for subsidizing businesses for the employment of the unemployed that are one step before retiring. The Management Committee of The Special Fund for Employment and Vocational Training (LAEK) has consented to cover the expenses for the implementation of a 81.25 million Euro programme, from the resources of the LAEK fund. The programme, which was initiated on January 1st, concerns employement of 2,500 unemployed people that have not met the criteria for retirement by a Main Insurance Agency, because they lack as much as 1,500 revenue stamps or five (5) years for reaching the retiring age limit. Their last insurance agency should be the Social Insurance Institute (IKA). http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315907 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:41:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315906 Bring the story of English under one roof By Christopher Mulvey, Guardian Weekly The campaign to create the English Project - the world's first visitor attraction and living museum dedicated to the story of the English language - has begun. The aim is to open in spring 2012 - the year of the London Olympics - but the project has set its sights on users of English across the globe. It will tell the story of how the tongue of three tribes has become over 16 centuries the language of almost 2 billion people. Through its combination of virtual and physical dimensions, the project will have relevance to the scholar as much as the language student, the casual passer-by as well as the cultural connoisseur. http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315906 Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:39:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315905 Hyphen at Foreign Ministry Annual ReportEmma Parker, Production Director and Yannis Stergis, Managing Director of hyphen, joined Greek Foreign Minister's, Dora Bakogiannis, annual report on Greek export trends and results of 2007 and the Foreign Ministry's strategy on national financial diplomacy for 2008. The event, which took place at the Macedonia Palace hotel of Thessaloniki on Monday 14th April, hosted selected businesses of Northern Greece with considerable export activity and worldwide partnerships that apart from the obvious financial results they create a positive diplomatic environment for our country, thus more effectively promoting our national interests. Host of the event was the Secretary General of International Economic Relations and Developmental Co-operation, Nicos Tachiaos. Short presentations reflecting obstacles and parameters regarding our export activity in an international financial crisis environment were contributed by the Chairs of SVVE (Northern Greece Industries Association) and SEVE (Northern Greece Exporters Association), member of which hyphen is. It is of outstanding importance that although 70% of Greece's export activity concerns services, in most cases this activity is rather receptive as it is mainly generated by businesses in the hotel, entertainment, food and catering industries that host and import income into the country, rather than exporting activity that is productive outside the country. Hyphen belongs to a single-digit percentage of service providers whose productive activity is directed outside the country. http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315905 Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:36:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315904 Pupils to set their own timetables as Britain adopts Swedish-style academies By Jack Grimston, Times Online The government is to set up a network of Swedish-style city academies in which pupils help design their own timetables, the length of their classes and even their own targets for grades. Lord Adonis, the schools minister, has given preliminary approval for Kunskapsskolan, the largest private education company in Sweden, to set up its first two British outlets in Richmond, southwest London. The academies, which would replace existing comprehensives, could open as early as next year and could expand into a network of up to 30 schools. Adonis and Michael Gove, the Conservative shadow schools secretary, have been competing to embrace the Swedish model of education, in which parents' groups, churches and other organisations are allowed to set up independent schools for which the state pays the fees. The system has been credited with bringing sharp improvements in results. This brings the successful Swedish independent school model to Britain, said Adonis, who claimed it was a seminal moment for English education. However, Kunskapsskolan's informal Scandinavian style of education is unlikely to please traditionalists, who may see the schools as a throwback to 1970s trendy teaching. Kunskapsskolan pupils learn in a series of brightly coloured rooms with no rows of desks - classrooms include a cafe, a lecture hall and an office for informal discussions. Some rooms hold only two to four pupils plus a teacher, while others contain 100 or more. While the academies would be required to teach the national curriculum in maths, English and information technology, Adonis said beyond that they would have all the freedom they need to introduce their personalised curriculum. Anders Hultin, the managing director of Kunskapsskolan, said he recognised the company was entering a virgin land and there was an opportunity for innovative teaching to take hold in Britain. Hultin and Adonis met at a lunch in 2005 while the schools minister was still a Downing Street education adviser. Hultin said the subject of whether or not children should wear uniforms at British Kunskapsskolan schools could be particularly contentious. At the company's schools in Sweden, most individual subjects are taught not in separate lessons, but in themed courses. One for 12-year-olds, called From the Big Bang to Modern Times, teaches scientific theories about the origins of the universe together with what different religions believe about creation. Subjects such as geography and sociology appear in the same course. Pupils plan their education in private sessions with a personal tutor. Some, for example, may decide they learn some subjects better in small groups, while others do better in large ones. They may also express a preference for short, 15-minute sessions. Each pupil's daily timetable is designed individually, along with yearly and weekly goals for what they will achieve. According to one visitor, pupils sometimes look like they are just hanging out, but the schools' results are about 10% better than the Swedish national average. If students are responsible for their own learning, they achieve better results, said Hultin. The schools will contrast with other city academies. Some of the most successful, such as Mossbourne, in Hackney, east London, are highly structured, teach traditional subjects and require children to recite the school motto. The academy system has been championed by Adonis, who largely designed it while he was working for Tony Blair. The schools are intended as a move away from the traditional council-run comprehensives into a system of quasi-independent schooling, although local authorities have been given an increasing role since Gordon Brown became prime minister. Kunskapsskolan, which means knowledge schools in English, will not have to pay the pound;2m sponsorship required of many private-sector academy sponsors and, in return, they will be expected to provide their services at cost, although they are a commercial company. Balls said yesterday: I'm delighted Kunskapsskolan are interested in sponsoring Richmond's academies...The success of academies is based on their ability to try innovative methods working closely in conjunction with local authorities. http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315904 Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:35:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315898 The second wave of the revolution in universities From The Independent, 10 April 2008 A government survey of students has delivered a rather surprising result. It shows a growing number of students in UK universities are concerned that studying for a degree may not increase their employability, particularly if the numbers drawn into higher education each year continue to increase. We are so used to hearing that university is the best route to employment that it is a little confusing to hear that students themselves are apparently questioning the wisdom of this assertion. And there is more cause for confusion. Yesterday, the higher education adjudicator revealed that complaints by students against their universities have risen for a third year. Something is clearly going on in higher education; student attitudes are changing and so, inexorably, is the shape of our university sector. A revolution has taken place in higher education in recent years. The old universal provision of funding has been replaced with a system of variable tuition fees. This was always going to entail two successive waves of turbulence. The first wave was the opposition of students who objected to being asked to pay for something that was previously considered free (although in fact the bill was always picked up by the taxpayer). That storm now seems to have been weathered by ministers. The prospect of tuition fees being dismantled by a future government seems unlikely. The second wave was predicted to be greater pressure on the universities to improve their performance, with students realising that, since they are paying for a service with their own (future) earnings, it is in their direct interest today to make sure they get value for money. We are now embarking on the second wave. And we should welcome it. Universities are being required to sharpen up their act by students who have a clearer expectation of what they want personally from higher education. This is the quid pro quo for allowing the universities to levy fees and gain more control over their destinies: they must now treat students as investors with rights, rather than mere academic fodder to be processed in the pursuit of state funding. As for the fears of students that increased numbers of participants in higher education could undermine the value of their degree, there is a grain of truth here, but it misses the bigger picture. The Government's target of getting 50 per cent of school leavers to university by the end of this decade, come hell or high water, has always been an aspiration moulded more by politics than any academic or economic strategy. The relatively high university drop-out rate in recent years does suggest that a minority of students have been encouraged to sign up for unsuitable courses. Another consequence of this rather indiscriminate influx is that the value of being awarded a degree has decreased somewhat in the eyes of employers. What matters more in the job market now is the quality of the qualification and the issuing academic institution. Yet it would be quite wrong to conclude from this that it is not worth attending university. It remains the case that higher education and training are still the best routes to employment opportunities and prosperity. Rather than shooting at arbitrary targets, ministers should concentrate on making sure that the advantages of universities are as widely known as possible in schools. If they do, they will have the advantage of going with the grain. Recent demand for value for money and concern about the advantage a degree confers in the market place is unlikely to be a sign that students are falling out of love with university. On the contrary, it shows that young people are finally beginning to put a proper price on education. Rather than confused, we should be proud. http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315898 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:28:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315895 Truancy When your child first skips into school under the watchful eye of a reception class teacher, it's hard to imagine a day when he or she wants nothing more than to slip straight out again to the local shopping centre. For some parents, ensuring their child reaches school and stays there becomes increasingly difficult. An estimated 50,000 children play truant every day in the UK. What can I do to prevent my child truanting? Take a positive approach to school from day one - don't moan to your child about having to get there every day and do your best to be punctual Let the school know as soon as possible if your child has to miss school because of illness Ask for permission in advance if you'd like your child to have a day off for a special event Take holidays outside term time if at all possible. Don't arrange to be away at the start of a new school year or during exams Show your child you're interested in his or her schoolwork. http://www.bbc.co.uk/parenting/your_kids/teen_truancy.shtml http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315895 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:25:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315894 Ensuring Respect for TeachersFrom English.chosun.com http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200804/200804100020.html, Korea, April 10th, 2008There were 168 instances of physical assaults and verbal threats committed by parents against teachers that were reported to the Korean Federation of Teachers? Associations last year. That?s more than double the 78 cases reported in 2002. At one elementary school in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province last year, parents grabbed a teacher by the hair and shook her around in front of her students. One assemblyman representing a district in Seoul assaulted the principal of his son?s school and caused him to faint. The assemblyman was demanding that his son, who quit school, be accepted back. One female teacher at a junior high school in Incheon tried to block a student from leaving class early. She ended up being assaulted by the student. Many such cases of assault stem from misunderstandings. Students may take on a very self-centered attitude when telling their parents about the way they were treated at school. The parents end up assaulting teachers as they question the way their children claimed they had been treated. Most of these unfortunate incidents could be prevented if channels of communication between parents and teachers were created through programs such as a school management committee. Education is achieved through praise and scolding. Painful scolding from teachers is part of education. If teachers end up getting assaulted because they sternly discipline their students, then they will have no choice but to take a lukewarm approach to education. If that happens, then not only the authority of teachers, but the entire system of education breaks down. The authority of teachers isn?t established by laws and systems. If teachers maintain their dignity by doing their best in researching and improving the way they teach, and establish a culture of respect for academics, then we will see a sharp decrease in assaults. Among Korea?s 400,000 teachers, there are some who use abusive language against their students and punch or whip them on impulse. Teachers must accept the fact that the rights of teachers will be protected only if measures are put in place enabling such abusive teachers to be weeded out. http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315894 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:24:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315902 Where bosses will be your friends From The Economist, April 5th 2008, p. 36 A desperate plea for skilled workers who can bear to stay It might be the endless pine forests, the locals beating themselves with birch twigs in the sauna or the odd notion of golfing in the snow. Whichever it is, the Finnish labour ministry's promotional video to attract skilled foreign workers has a ring of desperation. The video (which is available in English, Polish and Romanian) seeks to brand the country as the cool attic of Europe and lists Finland?s attractions: high quality of life, clean air, good schools and managers who treat workers almost like friends. The Finns and their Nordic neighbours have reason to worry. Figures from Eurostat show that unemployment in all the Nordic countries is well below the European Union average. In Denmark the seasonally adjusted jobless rate of around 2% is the lowest since the early 1970s. In Norway unemployment is also just over 2%. With economies throughout the region expected to slow soon, low unemployment is not necessarily a bad thing. On the other hand, employers across the Nordic region are complaining of labour shortages and fretting about wage inflation and reduced export competitiveness. The Swedish response has been the most radical: a proposal that will virtually guarantee entry to any non-EU worker with a job offer from a Swedish employer. Residence and employment permits, initially valid for two years, can be extended for an extra two, with the possibility of permanent status afterwards. The labour minister, Tobias Billstrom, says foreign workers are needed to counter a greying population and shrinking labour force. We've had a one-track immigration policy. The only way to get into Sweden since the 1970s has been as an asylum seeker, he notes. Norway has also simplified the rules. Previously, foreign workers faced weeks of waiting to have their papers processed. Now they can start work as soon as they have lodged their properly filled out applications. Yet opening doors and cutting paperwork might not be enough. All Nordic countries have a big problem attracting and retaining the most skilled foreign workers. Some 120,000 foreigners have jobs in Norway, for example, but only a small minority are highly skilled. The directorate of immigration can let in 5,000 highly skilled workers from outside the EU every year, but the annual quota has never been filled. The Danes, too, have difficulties attracting skilled workers. Denmark?s new plan to introduce a points-based green-card scheme might woo some engineers and IT wizards, but will it induce them to stay? New figures from the Danish Economic Council, a government-sponsored think-tank, show that 20% of foreign workers leave within a year, and 40% go within two years. Observer? explanations for this range from the prosaic (dismal weather, difficult languages) to the political (perceptions of hostility to foreigners). But it adds up to the same conclusion: enticing skilled foreigners to the Nordics is a tough job. http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315902 Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:33:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315901 IATEFL Conference onlineThe British Council and IATEFL have launched the Exeter Online website with web coverage of this year's IATEFL Annual Conference in Exeter. The IATEFL Conference starts next week but you can join Exeter Online now! Visit the Exeter Online website at http://exeteronline.britishcouncil.org As with Aberdeen Online, there'll be video recordings of workshops, moderated forums and photo albums and a lot more. This year we'll also be *live* streaming several plenary sessions! What else is new? It's a new-look site. The first time you visit the site, you'll need to create your own free user account - there are online tutorials and handy tips to help users update their profiles. http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315901 Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:32:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315900 Soon new financial resources From Epaggelmatiko Vima, March 2008, p. 45 A series of new financial resources for the aid of small and very small enterprises is foreseen by the National Strategic Reference Framework, as well as the subsidised programmes which will be announced. The line given by Brussels is to support small and small to medium-sized entrepreneurship, which in all of Europe constitutes about 90% of all enterprises. These resources will facilitate access for businesses to loans, relieving the borrower from an element of the danger of an inability to repay or by lowering the cost of borrowing. http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315900 Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:31:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315899 Useful advice for electronic safety From Epaggelmatiko Vima, March 2008, p. 45 Business Software Alliance (BSA) introduces on its web page www.bsa.org/hellas the new portal e-safety which, among other things, provides useful tips about the attributes of (anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall), the protection of laptops and PDAs and the creation of secure passwords. The evermore increasing use of the computer and the navigation of the Internet provides each and every one of us with unlimited access to sources of information, financial services and electronic shopping opportunities. Unfortunately, there are many people out there that use this medium for illegal practices such as infecting with viruses, the stealing of personal data from unsuspecting users or the trafficking of pirate and dubious quality software. BSA suggests simple practical applications such as the installation of security products and teh choice of 'smart' and secure passwords, so as to limit as far as possible the dangers that may be lurking. http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315899 Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:30:00 GMT http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315903 Food for thought; Textbook Wars From The Economist, March 29th 2008, p. 37 History textbooks are a test of a country's tolerance. Do they bristle with grudges, or do they see other countries' point of view? In Germany, for example, historians have worked successfully on joint textbooks with Polish and French colleagues. But in Slovakia, where relations with the former imperial power, Hungary, have deteriorated sharply since 2006, the mood has swung the other way. The education minister, from the Slovak National Party, has sidelined plans for a joint history textbook. That follows a decision by Slovakia's parliament last year to endorse the Benes decrees, which legalized brutal measures against the country's supposedly Hitlerite German and Hungarian populations in 1945-48. Shortly afterwards, Hungary's president, Laszlo Solyom, paid a private visit to Komarno, a majority Hungarian town in Slovakia. That infuriated the Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, who said that Slovaks cannot allow political representatives of Hungary to behave in southern Slovakia as if they were in northern Hungary. The two countries have not spoken at a high level since. Although the Hungarian minority is bigger in Romania, at least 500,000 Hungarians live in Slovakia. This reflects the fall of the Habsburg Empire and the Treaty of Trianon 90 years ago, a moment of national rebirth for Slovaks, but of dismemberment and humiliation for Hungarians. Some Hungarian textbooks still call Slovakia Upper Hungary. Joining the European Union, which both countries did in May 2004, was supposed to salve these wounds. EU members cannot isolate themselves in a fabricated history, says Attila Simon, a member of the joint historians' committee. It will produce its textbooks as planned next year, along the lines of those already used in Slovakia's Hungarian-language schools. Yet the Slovak National Party dismisses the book as the work of Marxists. As the education ministry controls textbooks and the curriculum, it has little chance of getting into classrooms. Officials insist that patriotism need not thwart reconciliation. National pride is a necessary prerequisite for appreciation of other nations' history, says Dusan Caplovic, the deputy prime minister responsible for minorities. http://www.hyphen.gr/news.php?pid=315903 Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:34:00 GMT